Batman: Arkham Asylum

Published 15 August, 2008

Eidos' "dark and gritty" effort.

Comments (43) Latest comment 3 years ago

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  • Derblington #1 4 years ago

    Bats looks dump.

  • AshTray #2 4 years ago

    Woo, that looks cool as hell :)
    Batman is supposed to be dark and gritty!

  • chudders #3 4 years ago

    I like all the character models bar Batman's funnily enough.

  • johnnybrn #4 4 years ago

    Awesome. :)

    Very Sam Keith

  • Olemak #5 4 years ago

    The Joker looks just right and Killer Crok looks like trouble.

    Agree that Batman himself looks a bit meh, but maybe they'll polish. I like that they gave him a cloth suit, not the rubber nonsense of the movies, but his massive power-gloves looks a bit too anime to my liking. WIll be good to see what combat looks like - remember: No QTE's! Don't turn this into a Jason Bourne-like fiasco! Please.

    A gadgety beat'em-up where the element of surprise is integral to the outcome of any given fight sounds pretty alluring. Of course, this could turn into Splinter Cell with a cape and a cowl, but... hey, I could live with that.

    I really liked the shot of the unsuspecting guards/goons with the batarang zooming toward them. A bit of Dark Sector going on there? That would be very welcome, if done right!

  • Kiigan #6 4 years ago

    Looks fantastic.

  • mikeck #7 4 years ago

    Some of those screenshots really reminded me of the graphic novel...I'm liking the look of these screenshots so far, and Croc does indeed look like trouble!

  • actionfitz #8 4 years ago

    those Joker close-ups look ace.
    making me a bit damp down below...
    :D

  • rendonlex #9 4 years ago

    a heath ledger joker would have been better... this green haired thing looks a bit too comical... is suppesed to be 'dark and gritty', not goofy.

  • Britesparc Verified Creative, ITV #10 4 years ago

    Well, that looks terrific... I love what they've done with Killer Croc.

    Aesthetic reminds me of Butcher Bay, and that can't be a bad thing.

    First half decent comic book adap since Spidey 2...?

  • Spanky #11 4 years ago

    Since when was killer croc 20 feet tall?

  • johnnybrn #12 4 years ago

    Last time I saw crocs were fucking big

    This from wikipedia -

    Waylon Jones is born with the medical condition epidermolytic hyperkeratosis that caused him to grow progressively into the likeness of a crocodile. In his original appearances, he resembled a powerfully-built man covered entirely in green scales. However, his disease has slowly robbed him of all identifiable human traits. In the Hush storyline he is infected with a virus that greatly increases the rate of his devolution. In his most recent appearances, he has an elongated snout and tail. His intelligence level has varied from competent schemer to berserk monster.

  • mikeck #13 4 years ago

    "a heath ledger joker would have been better... this green haired thing looks a bit too comical... is suppesed to be 'dark and gritty', not goofy. "

    But NOT fitting into the Arkham Asylum look, as great as Ledger looked in Dark Knight, it wouldn't feel right - hard to explain why, but in my mind it wouldn't. That doesn't mean I'm right though :P

  • BiscuitBase #14 4 years ago

    Those screenshots are so gritty I feel like I've just been rolling around in a load of gravel. I can feel the grits in every orifice. Won't someone please clean my grits?

  • mikeck #15 4 years ago

    ^ Kiss my grits!!!!

  • Quint2020 #16 4 years ago

    Ok, you can officially colour me interested, these screens have definitely wiped away a lot of my scepticism, this looks awesome!

    Bane looks ace.

  • cubbymoore #17 4 years ago

    This looks awesome.

  • Ged42 #18 4 years ago

    Looks pretty cool, echoing everyone else the Joker and Croc look great, not sure about Bats though.

    Does anyone know what the Riddler's scrawled on that wall, my french is rubbish.

    "Sai aime, sai souffert, maintenant, be hais...? (not sure if the Sai is a Jai)

  • jonbwfc #19 4 years ago

    "Sai aime, sai souffert, maintenant, be hais...? (not sure if the Sai is a Jai)

    it is 'Jai' I think, or more accurately "J'ai". Roughly translated it is

    'I loved
    I suffered
    Now, I hate'

    Which, if The Killing Joke is anything to go by, is a pretty reasonable summary of The Joker's origin story. However I don't recall him ever being fluent in French...

    Jon

  • Icebox #20 4 years ago

    This looks excellent, definitely looking forward to it.

  • Erinan #21 4 years ago

    J'ai souffert ?
    J'ai aimé ?
    Maintenant ?
    Je hais ?

    And your translation is correct, jonbwfc, except the fact that the two first sentences should be swapped :)

    Anyway, looks interesting.
    Edited by Erinan at 15/08/08 @ 16:50

  • Vice.Destroyer #22 4 years ago

    I am very interested, but Eidos doing this game fills me with dread. I am one of 4 people in the world that thinks that Eidos has never produced a decent game. Lara Croft? Just Cause? Hitman? Deus Ex? Kane & Lynch? Technically proficient games, I still find the sense of perspective awesome in Just Cause as you elevate in a helicopter, but fun? Nay.

    But I am keeping my fingers crossed.

  • Triggerhappytel #23 4 years ago

    If these shots haven't been spruced up then I'm Queen Victoria.

  • SeesThroughAll #24 4 years ago

    "a heath ledger joker would have been better... this green haired thing looks a bit too comical... "

    Heath Ledger painted his hair green as well. Watch the movie again.

  • konstantinos #25 4 years ago

    [link url=http://www.slashgamer.com/2008/08/14/11-scans-and-screens-of-game-informers-coverge-of-batman-arkham-asylum/
    ]http://www.slashgamer.com/2008/08/14/11-...[/link]

    this is looking good...

    cheers...

  • Razorus #26 4 years ago

    Looks fuckin' sweet. I reckon Bats looks sick, and the graphics are pretty gritty. Since it's not based on any movie, this will hopefully turn out good.

  • oerhoert #27 4 years ago

    Looks horrible. "Dark and gritty" only in the most superficial of ways, and devoid of much finesse. Seems to look more or less like the last Splinter Cell game to me, only that was more coherent.

  • Beats12 #28 4 years ago

    Anyone know what Batman this game is based on: the comic books, early movies, the Nolan movies...?

  • Olemak #29 4 years ago

    About the "I loved, I suffered, now I hate" bit - clearly, it is The Riddler's cell, not the joker's. Not all the question marks.

    The Riddler is actually an under-exploited villain who could really come into his own in a darker, mort twisted gotham, more along the lines of the killing joke and Arkham Asylym, which obviously is what they're going for here. The Riddler is a perfect serial killer, really, with his riddles and taunts and desire to be stopped. He used to love batman and only sought his attention... but now he's ben spurned, he has suffered... now he hates batman. He does not want his attention and respect as a riddlemanker - he want batman to suffer.

    I like the way this is shaping up. Please deliver on this :)

    BTW, regarding the Ledger Joker: Ledger did a fantastic joker, but that is not the only way to do the Joker. He is, really, the most terrifying villain of them all, and he's been through several incarnations that worked extremely well. I don't know if you've actually read Arkham Asylym, but the Joker in it is just... different from Ledger's. I agree that the joker's chin seem a little bit over the top in some of the shots. Weird is ok, but a plasticky cartoon could break the illusion, seeing as the rest of the game looks somewhat realistic. The closeup on him looks great tho, with all the wrinkles and the eyebrows and all that....

  • hiddenranbir #30 4 years ago

    Oh yeah! oh yeah! so dark! so gritty! Yeah! yeah!

  • septimus #31 4 years ago

    I'm getting more of a Riddick Escape from Butcher Bay feel from those screen shots. The lighting and texturing seems very similar.

    As good a reference point as Bioshock from my point of view.
    Edited by septimus at 15/08/08 @ 21:44

  • Olemak #32 4 years ago

    Beats12: "Anyone know what Batman this game is based on: the comic books, early movies, the Nolan movies...? "

    I'm guessing (hoping) the classic graphic novel "Arkham Asylum" from the late eighties. Sold loads, very succsessful, despite it's weird storytelling style and very artsy art. The basic premise of it is that Joker and the other inmates have taken over the asylum, and threaten to kill all the hostages unless Batman goes in to solve a puzzle they've made for him. Of course, the asylum is filled with old adversaries not on their best behaviours.

    Although the original graphic novel is very quircky and strange, sort of hard to follow (and it is not concidered canon; I think it takes place in a batman universe separate from all the other DC universes), the basic plotline is really very well suited to a game.

  • dudefella #33 4 years ago

    Shots look ace, but it's going for the open-world style, which just spells trouble, to me. I hope it won't get hamstrung by ambition and pushed out the door too early. But I am cautiously optimistic. If it's as good as Spidey 2 I'll be a happy Batfan.

  • The_Inquisitor #34 4 years ago

    After the last BatGame, I thought figured the next would be just as bad. But after seeing those pics, I'm going to be praying they make it good as it looks absolutely fantastic.

  • Olemak #35 4 years ago

    dudefella: openworld? Where did you get that info?

    If openworld means that it all takes place within the confines of Arkham Asylum, but where the player gets to choose what to do and when and how - maybe a bit like in Dead Rising - then that is OK with me. If there's a lot of batmobile speeding around Gotham City, GTA style, then I am a fair bit less interested. But all the shots here seem to be taken indoors, most of them in cells and other spaces that would indeed seem to belong in a madhouse. Actually, now that I think about it, "confined openworld" sounds absolutely ace for this game. I'm just going to go ahead and add it to my most wanted list now.

  • Velios #36 4 years ago

    This looks amazing! Completely out of the blue! Remnds me of Bioshock with a Batman theme.

  • SpikeRocks #37 4 years ago

    Well the Joker looks like a mix between Heath Joker and Nicholson Joker. :/
    Edited by SpikeRocks at 16/08/08 @ 12:39

  • DB2k #38 4 years ago

    batman vs gears of war?

  • urban #39 4 years ago

    looks wicked good

  • Stepharneo #40 4 years ago

    i think batman is almost comically hench in the screens, he needs t be a little more nimble looking and less like a pro-wrestler, and as for teh joker its like they but ledgers make-up on nicholson...maybe its too soon to have a heath ledger in a batman game, maybe they avoided it so as to stop the flow of hatred towards whoever would be voicing it...i mean anyone other than heath who does the voice for a heath ledger joker will be subject to death threat a plenty...so unless someone manages time travel before the games release... on the whole i like the idea, batman in an open assasins creed style world, with splinter cell stealthing and maybe some dark sector batarangs and maybe even some just cause style vehicle drops, only instead of vehicle drops, you get alfred to send one over on auto pilot or something...hopefully the ps3 version doesn't have any motion sensing after touch bull shit, way to break the immersion. i hope it plays a little like gta at night, riding the batmobile or the bat cycle with people staring as you drive past and then you get to your dark alley hop off down into some sewer and off to find some inhuman badguy, most likely killer croc in this situation. This seems likely to be a jack of all trades, but hopefully it won't just fail in every area.

    ...And to all those lovers of bourne, having not read the reviews i'm not sure if this has been mentioned, but i found that you need to be bourne to have the reaction times to play as him...i'm sure you get used to it, but i couldn't keep up, arguably i'm just shit, but i've been playing most my life and most people i know are worse than i am, so maybe its one for more of a not-so-niché hardcore market of which am apparently not part of.

  • elmachete #41 4 years ago

    They say this game will be great, they say the developers will be stripped away of their manhood if they mess it up!

  • Bangaioh #42 3 years ago

    Looks very good, curious to try this! Demo please, asap!!

  • Decap #43 3 years ago

    Batman did some bench pressing. Im pretty sure he took some steroids also but then again, I dont think Gordon requires him to piss on a cup so its all good.

    Looks pretty nice actually, hopefully they dont mess this up.